The Health Service Executive has said a number of people given the flu vaccine at pharmacies may have received too low a dose.
In a statement issued tonight, the HSE said that the National Immunisation Advisory Committee had advised them that the vaccination administered to some patients was less than the recommended dosage.
While there are no safety issues for patients who have received an inadequate dose, the HSE urged those patients who are inadequately vaccinated to be revaccinated as soon as possible.
The problem is believed to have arisen from a training programme for pharmacists in which there was confusion as to the amount of the vaccine to be administered. As a result some adults got a children’s dose.
While the HSE has yet to confirm the number of people affected, IPU president Darragh O'Loughlin has put the figure at “up to 485 patients”.
Advising patients who are worried that they have not received the correct dosage to contact their pharmacist, the HSE said it believes that pharmacies would also be proactively making contact with those affected.
Meanwhile Hibernian Healthcare, the company tasked with training pharmacists to deliver the vaccination has confirmed that the issue arose from an error in its training programme.
In a statement issued last night the company said, “as a result of an error in the training programme, it has emerged that some pharmacists may have inadvertently administered a paediatric vaccination dose to adult patients.”
The company said that it has now issued the correct dosage information to pharmacists who attended its training programme and said, “We are currently contacting them individually to ascertain how many patients may have received the small dose. We deeply regret any concern this causes for pharmacists and patients.”
With the first cases of influenza notified to them this week, the HSE said it was important that vulnerable patients be revaccinated in order to be protected from the flu.
Those requiring revaccination are being advised that it is likely they will develop a sore arm for a few days after the revaccination.
